Don't take it too seriously, but we have a saying: a pig will always find a mud.

Yes, the more you pull the shadows, the more you lose precision in color. What a surprise!

The photo in cave was made in extreme conditions. -5EV from what the exposure meter showed, and then pulling blacks and shadows.

O my God, after that the color is not precise!!! One can not kick the colors so, that his eyes will bleed?! Who on earth would expect this?!

The photo is usable. Clearly it is not an "award winning photo", and it is never meant to be. I made it on a shaky rotating boat between 30 tourist heads running around.

Another option - one can make the photo in flat B&W like you do

I agree, even when one loses some color and contrast, as expected (you are dealing with 2-3 bits range in some areas), it's amazing how much info one still has available, and with no banding and weird artifacts. The Sony sensors are the cream of the crop still, no doubt about that.